Learn to master middle-management

Apr. 11, 2012

Learn how to lead a middle-manager in this week's Equalizing Work & Life column by business/life coach Skip Weisman.

Being a middle-manager, the person who has to lead front line employees and teams while answering to superiors above, can be the most challenging of all positions. Yet, it can also be the most important and influential position in any organization.

A leader in the middle of the organization’s hierarchy has an opportunity to have tremendous impact with the right approach.

Upper management needs middle-managers to maintain a pulse on what’s happening at the lower levels of their organization and front line team members need the middle manager to be the conduit of information coming down from the top as well as be an outlet for sharing ideas and concerns up.

Sometimes middle-managers must feel like they’re being squeezed as they feel pressure from both sides. That is when it is time to begin exerting their influence in both directions and push back to gain the respect they deserve.

The biggest thing middle-managers need to do to be successful in this scenario is to take ownership of their role in the organization and embrace it. When communicating to frontline personnel whom they manage, directives from the top have to be couched using “I” messages. These “I” messages send the signal to the frontline personnel that the middle-manager buys-into what is being asked of the team, believes it is the right direction and needs to be carried out.

With this approach, middle-managers will effectively carry out their role of moving strategic initiatives forward and will be seen as a positive, influential and valuable force in the organization.

There is nothing worse than a middle-manager who passes the buck and says something to the effect of “this is coming down from above, I don’t agree with it, but we have to do it.” That is not leadership. And, it will not influence the team to buy-in to it in a way that will make the initiative successful at the highest possible levels. It will also not reflect highly of the manager and he or she will risk losing the respect of the people they are managing.

To influence in the other direction, middle-managers need to do just one thing. Be advocates for their people. Look to help them be able to do their jobs better and easier by providing necessary resources or going to bat for them to upper management to get the resources they need. If those resources cannot be provided, then get a reasonable and legitimate answer as to why they will not be forthcoming, then work with team to create alternative solutions.

Apply the above strategies and you will be seen as an influential leader in the middle of the organization with potential for even greater influence in the future.